


I'll Carry You Home Tonight

by PrincexofxFlowers



Category: Servamp (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Fluffy Ending, Gen, M/M, caring Kuro, determined mahiru
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-13 10:32:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16016075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincexofxFlowers/pseuds/PrincexofxFlowers
Summary: As they walked down the alley, Mahiru felt a chill settle over him that he knew was unrelated to the slight temperature difference brought on by being in the shade. Kuro shifted on his shoulder and Mahiru resisted the urge to reach up and put a hand on his head.“Last time you followed someone down an alleyway,” Kuro grumbled quietly into his ear, “One of us got stabbed. And it wasn’t you.”“It’ll be fine,” Mahiru looked down at the little girl, trying to sound reassuring. Although, at this point he wasn’t sure if he was trying to reassure her, Kuro, or himself.-----Mahiru finds trouble, a wall, and a way out. Kuro finds a sense of emotional vulnerability. If only a sense.Can be romantic or platonic.





	I'll Carry You Home Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by that scene in Ever After with Drew Barrymore (which is based off of actual historical events) where she and the prince get captured by bandits and she carries him out of their camp.
> 
> I started this in January? It's September. My work ethic is not good lol

Mahiru liked to think that he was getting the hang of the whole ‘vampires are real and many of them are trying to kill you and/or your pet cat’ thing. He wasn’t quite able to take down enemies on his own yet, but at the very least he was capable of keeping himself alive well enough to not be a distraction to Kuro in the middle of a fight. 

If you asked Kuro though, Mahiru was sure he’d say something along the lines of ‘that doesn’t make up for anything when half the time the only reason we’re in trouble is because that pain in the neck sticks his nose into places he shouldn’t,’ and while Mahiru would argue that his nose definitely belonged wherever he chose to put it, he could admit that a lot of the time it wasn’t that trouble found them so much as it was that Mahiru ran headlong into anything resembling a problem. It was just simpler to deal with things himself than it was to wait for someone else to come along and fix it for them.

Which is why, when confronted with a lost child on the way home from grocery shopping, Mahiru ignored the quiet grumbling coming from the cat sitting on his shoulder and said he would help the little girl look for her parents.

“Man, what a pain,” Kuro said under his breath. 

Mahiru shifted all of the grocery bags he was holding into one hand and offered his newly empty hand to the little girl. “I’m sure we’ll find them in no time,” he smiled reassuringly. “Do you know which way they went?”

The little girl nodded and took Mahiru’s hand, pulling him down the line of shops along the road. He kept his eyes open for anyone who looked like they might be frantically searching for their child but everyone they passed looked like nothing was wrong. The more they walked the more Mahiru felt concern twisting in his stomach along with something else he couldn’t really name.

“Hey are you sure they were on this street? Did you guys have a place to meet up at in case you got separated?”

The little girl shook her head.

“Do you think they went back to the last place you were together in case you were still there? Maybe we should head back and wait in one spot.”

The little girl’s hand tightened around Mahiru’s fingers and she shook her head again.

Mahiru bit his lip and began strongly considering taking her to the nearest police station. Best case scenario her parents would notice she was missing and eventually check there. Worst case scenario they left her on purpose and, if so, the cops would know how to handle that far better than he did.

The girl stopped suddenly and tugged on Mahiru’s hand, pulling him back a half step.

“What happened? Did you see them?”

She nodded and pointed down an alley between two shops. 

The orange glow of the early sunset was still bright enough that Mahiru could see down to the other side of the alley clearly, and there was nobody there, but it looked like the other end opened up into a courtyard of some sort and he supposed it was possible that a parent might check in a less conventional spot if they thought their child was playing an unplanned game of hide and seek. “Down there?”

She nodded again and started pulling on his arm. The kicked puppy look she turned on him when he didn’t immediately go with her had his resolve to, for once, approach a situation with caution buckling easily.

“Okay I’m coming.” 

As they walked down the alley, Mahiru felt a chill settle over him that he knew was unrelated to the slight temperature difference brought on by being in the shade. Kuro shifted on his shoulder and Mahiru resisted the urge to reach up and put a hand on his head.

“Last time you followed someone down an alleyway,” Kuro grumbled quietly into his ear, “One of us got stabbed. And it wasn’t you.”

“It’ll be fine,” Mahiru looked down at the little girl, trying to sound reassuring. Although, at this point he wasn’t sure if he was trying to reassure her, Kuro, or himself.

The little girl nodded at him and let go of his hand, running forward to the mouth at the end of the alley.

“Hey, hold on!” Mahiru ran after her but as soon as he stepped foot into the courtyard she seemed to shimmer for a moment before transforming, growing into an adult sized version of herself.

“What the-” Mahiru started at the same time that Kuro said “Oh great.”

Something very fast moved in the corner of Mahiru’s eye but before he could turn to it whatever it was slammed into Kuro and forced him off of his shoulder. He let go of his cat form just before hitting the ground, some sort of spear sticking out of his stomach.

“Kur-” Mahiru cried but that was all he got out before something else slammed into him and sent him flying.

He thought he heard Kuro yell his name but he couldn’t focus on it before he crashed into a wall. He vaguely registered a sense of _painpainpain_ and then nothing.

\---

Sensation came back to him slowly and unpleasantly, like trying to drag his feet through knee-deep wet sand. He had a brief moment of realizing ‘I’m awake’ before an all consuming ache crashed over his senses. He made a mental note to thank Kuro for all the times he’d saved him from being thrown into walls before, and then a sense of urgency rushed over him because the last he saw Kuro he’d been impaled.

Hearing came back to him next and he tried to focus past the dizzy, swimming sensation in his head, which was disconcerting because he hadn’t even opened his eyes yet, to focus on the voices he heard not too far away. One of them was definitely Kuro, a very angry sounding Kuro, but the others were unfamiliar.

“Taking your eve out first was definitely the right decision. With no blood you’re too weak and angry to pose much of a threat.”

Mahiru forced his eyes open at that. It was clear that Kuro needed help and he wasn’t going to just sit and wait for things to stop hurting while he listened to things get worse. It took a lot of effort and when he managed to get his eyes open his vision swam too much to be considered an improvement. He closed his eyes again and waited for the nauseous feeling to subside. There was too much all at once. He couldn’t keep everything straight. There were too many internal sensations to figure out to keep track of the external ones.

He took a deep breath, ignored the small noise of pain that came out when he exhaled, and opened his eyes again, focusing on one small thing at a time

It was dark out now, meaning he’d been unconscious for at least twenty minutes.

There were grocery bags strewn about, food spilling everywhere, dislodged when Mahiru went flying. He hadn’t been moved then.

There were four figures in front of him, three standing up and one on the ground. One of them had to be Kuro and Mahiru felt sick when he resigned himself to the fact that he probably knew which one it was.

The figure on the ground spat a curse and Mahiru groaned at the familiar voice. He struggled to push himself up onto his forearms and inadvertently attracted the attention of their attackers.

“Oh? Are you finally awake? Nice of you to join us!” One of them singsonged, taking a step towards him.

“Leave him alone!” Kuro yelled. “Don’t touch him!”

Mahiru desperately tried to summon his weapon but he wasn’t sure if he could even wield it in his state. He glanced up and past his approaching enemy to make eye contact with Kuro. 

Kuro looked awful and Mahiru felt guilt bloom in his stomach. He was bleeding in more places than Mahiru cared to count and he had no doubt Kuro had fought tooth and nail to keep him safe. If he hadn’t let himself be thrown into a wall they wouldn’t be in this mess. If he had been more cautious of that little girl… if he were better at doubting people. 

The approaching figure crouched, reached down and fisted a hand in Mahiru’s hair, pulling him up on his knees to look him in the eye and blocking his view of Kuro. 

“Hey! I said leave him alone! Let him go! He can’t fight right now, you have no reason to do anything to him!”

Mahiru might have lost sight of Kuro but he could certainly still hear him. A small part of him felt even more sick because usually by this point Kuro would have ripped through whatever was holding him down and stormed over to save him. The fact that he hadn’t done that meant that he was seriously hurt.

They weren’t going to win this fight without Kuro drinking his blood and, ignoring the fact that Mahiru would have to manage to fight his way over there and buy time for that to happen, he knew if he looked half as bad as he felt Kuro would refuse.

He had to get them out of there.

“Please let me go,” he said quietly.

“Hm? Why should I?”

“Because Kuro’s right,” he grit his teeth. “I can’t fight right now. I don’t pose a threat to you so why should you keep me here?”

“Kid’s got a point,” One of the people standing by Kuro said.

The guy holding Mahiru stood, dragging him up as well so his feet barely skimmed the ground, and turned to face the others. “How do you figure?”

“Our main goal involving him was just to get him out of the way. If he stays here he’s just a liability. A chance for this one to drink his blood.” He punctuated his words by pulling his spear out of Kuro’s stomach. Mahiru saw Kuro grit his teeth to hold back a yell and he tried not to let his anger get the best of him.

That explained why he hadn’t stopped the man from grabbing him.

“I guess you’re right,” the guy holding him said, and that was all the warning he gave before he dropped Mahiru carelessly to the ground.

“Oof!” Mahiru’s knees collided with the pavement harshly but he caught himself with his hands before he face planted. 

“Get lost, okay?”

Mahiru looked up at him, shocked that he’d agreed, and then quickly looked to Kuro who was staring at him unwaveringly, his eyes desperately and clearly begging him to please leave.

“Can-” he stopped and swallowed, looking away to compose himself. He had to play this right. “Can I take my stuff?” He glanced at the groceries scattered around and hoped the implication was clear.

The man scoffed a laugh and grinned. “Sure.”

“Do I have your word? You won’t follow me?”

“You have my word. Whatever you can carry in one trip and you won’t be followed.”

Mahiru nodded and pushed himself to his feet. He took a moment to steady his shaking legs and prayed that he’d be able to summon the strength to pull this off. He approached Kuro and knelt next to him, pulling him up into a sitting position. “Sorry about this, Kuro,” he said. He took Kuro’s arms and turned so he was facing away from him, maneuvering his arms over his head. “Hang onto my neck okay?”

“Woah, what are you doing? He didn’t say you could-” The guy with the spears started but Mahiru cut him off.

“Whatever I can carry,” he said, voice strong and unshaking. “That’s what you said.” He felt Kuro’s arms finally tighten around his shoulders and shifted forward so he could pull him more firmly onto his back.

“That’s what I said. I won’t go back on it,” he didn’t seem mad at all. He sounded amused actually, but Mahiru wouldn’t look up to find out. “But I don’t think you can carry him.”

Mahiru gripped Kuro’s legs and took a deep breath. “Watch me.”

Standing was hard. His legs still felt unsteady and the added weight on his back sent the world back to spinning for a moment but Mahiru found the longer he was awake the better he felt. This was the first time he’d been majorly injured but he was positive he could only manage this due to his added sturdiness from being an eve.

Once he felt stable he heaved a breath, glared at the three vampires around him and took a few steps back toward the alley, thoroughly proving his point. “Let’s go home, Kuro,” he said, and he didn’t look back.

Kuro was silent for a long time. Mahiru would think he’d fallen asleep if it weren’t for the fact that his arms were still locked tightly around his neck.

“How are you doing, Kuro?” He asked after a while.

“Fine,” he said stiffly. “I’m immortal after all.” His arms tightened the slightest bit but Mahiru let it slide. He hated it when Kuro said that but he didn’t want to argue right now.

“We’ll get home and you can have some blood and take a nice bath, okay?”

Kuro didn’t say anything back and the silence descended on them again for a short while.

“What about you?” Kuro’s voice was quiet but the words were spoken right next to Mahiru’s ear so he definitely wouldn’t have missed them.

“Hm?”

“How are you?”

“I’m a lot better than I was,” he said honestly. “When I first woke up I was really disoriented and everything hurt but the longer I’m awake and moving the better I feel.”

Kuro turned and hid his face in Mahiru’s neck. “... I’m sorry,” he said after a moment.

“Huh? What for?”

“I didn’t stop you from getting thrown into that wall.”

“You were impaled!”

“And you got hurt.”

“You’re not seriously blaming yourself for me getting hurt are you?” Mahiru cried. “The whole thing only happened because I made us follow that little girl! And while I was unconscious you got hurt even more because you were trying to protect me right? None of that was your fault Kuro!”

“I’m supposed to keep you safe.”

“And you did! If I had better reflexes we would’ve kicked their butts! What just happened isn’t on you. It’s on me.”

Kuro went quiet again and Mahiru got the distinct impression that there was more to this than he was letting on.

“You’re really shaken up, huh?” he said softly

“You… you hit the ground… and you didn’t get back up. I didn’t know if…” Kuro trailed off and Mahiru didn’t know if he meant to let the sentence hang or if he couldn’t find the words he wanted.

“I’m sorry for scaring you.”

Kuro shifted on his back. “I didn’t say that.”

But he also didn’t deny it.

They made it home soon after. Mahiru maneuvered the door open and managed to take his shoes off without letting go of Kuro, and then moved to the living room to gently drop him onto the couch.

Kuro didn’t say anything as Mahiru pulled off his boots and left to put them by the door.

He didn’t say anything when Mahiru said he was going to get the bath ready.

He didn’t say anything when Mahiru sat down next to him and held out his arm.

“Kuro,” Mahiru said to get his attention. “You need to eat.”

Kuro took Mahiru’s hand in his and held his elbow with the other. He gave a small nod then bit down.

When he was done, Mahiru smiled and stood, pulling Kuro up by the arm with him. “You can sit on the couch all you want after you bathe, okay?” He walked Kuro to the bathroom and lightly shoved him inside. “Take your time.”

He turned to leave and felt a tug on his shirt. Logically it had to be Kuro but Mahiru still turned back around to check.

“Kuro?”

“It was scary.” Kuro wouldn’t look at him- wouldn’t look at anything but the floor. “I was scared.”

Mahiru stepped back into the room, right into Kuro’s space, and didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around him. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly, holding on tighter and hoping that Kuro could feel his heart beating against his chest. “I’m sorry I scared you.”

Kuro didn’t react for a moment but then he practically melted into the hug. He hugged Mahiru back so firmly he thought he felt something pop but he didn’t mind.

“I’m okay though. We’re both okay. I’m right here, Kuro.”

Kuro nodded and buried his face in Mahiru’s neck.

They stayed like that for a long while, until Mahiru felt the steam from the bath water starting to stick his shirt to his skin. “Don’t let the bath get cold okay?” He pulled back and gave Kuro a reassuring smile. “I’ll still be here when you get out.”

“Okay.”

Mahiru left the room and closed the door behind him. He should really figure out what to make for dinner. They’d obviously need to go grocery shopping again but he was pretty sure they still had ramen. On the way to the kitchen though he saw the couch and, well… he really needed a break for a minute.

He hadn’t lied when he told Kuro that he felt better than he had when he first woke up, but he hadn’t felt great either. He was still exhausted and shaky and carrying Kuro all the way back to their apartment was hard. He didn’t regret it though.

He’d do it again.

Some time later he woke up to Kuro gently shaking his shoulder.

“Mahiru.”

“Kuro? Sorry I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” He blinked drowsily at him and then frowned. “Your hair is wet. You should dry it off or you’ll get sick.”

Kuro rolled his eyes. “I’ll be fine. You need to take a bath. It’s all ready in there so it’ll be a waste if you don’t.”

“You got a bath ready for me?” Mahiru smiled and Kuro looked away, muttering something that sounded like ‘don’t get used to it.’

“Just go, would you?”

“Okay. Thanks Kuro.”

Mahiru wasn’t sure if Kuro knew he was still sore and thus the hot water of a bath would do wonders for his muscles but the relief he felt was appreciated either way. Normally he wasn’t one for lingering in the bath or shower; there were always chores or other things that needed done more, but he allowed himself to sit and enjoy the sensation of warmth slowly overtaking the aches of his body. He didn’t actually start washing his hair until he almost dozed off again.

When he emerged from the bathroom clad in pajamas with his towel hung over his neck, he was surprised he didn’t find Kuro in his bedroom when he stuck his head in to check for him.

There were quiet noises coming from the kitchen though and Mahiru followed them in mild bewilderment. “Kuro?”

Kuro glanced over his shoulder at him and then turned back to whatever he was doing on the counter. “Sit down and wait a minute.”

“Okay?” Mahiru tentatively sat down. He couldn’t see what Kuro was doing but he jumped when after a few moments the sound of a timer going off pierced the air.

Kuro stopped the noise and then turned around, holding two steaming cups of ramen. “Eat,” he said simply, setting one down in front of Mahiru with a set of chopsticks and taking a seat himself.

Mahiru stared at him for a second, and then down at the steaming food in front of him. “Thank you, Kuro,” he said, honestly feeling choked up with gratitude.

Kuro shrugged and slurped a mouthful of noodles.

They ate in silence then, and Mahiru thought that would be the end of that. They’d finish eating and go to bed, and hopefully wake up feeling better tomorrow morning.

“Mahiru.”

“Hm?” Mahiru looked up, genuinely surprised at Kuro for initiating conversation again.

“Thanks for picking me up.”

Mahiru smiled at him.

“Any time.”

**Author's Note:**

> The end!  
> But is he saying thanks for picking him up and carrying him home or is he saying thanks for picking him up as a cat at the very beginning??? (Ooooooooh)
> 
> I actually had a lot of fun writing this and I'd love to do more things for this fandom, especially this pair. I think their characters are a lot of fun to explore!
> 
> Anyway that's about all I have to say about this one. Thanks for reading!
> 
> Talk to me on [tumblr](https://princexofxflowers.tumblr.com/)


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